ISLAMABAD: The Jordanian doctor who killed seven CIA employees in a suicide attack in Afghanistan said in video clips broadcast posthumously Saturday that all mujahedeen must attack US targets to avenge the death of Pakistani Taleban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
Footage showed Humam Khalil Abu Mulal Al-Balawi — whom the CIA had cultivated as an asset against Al-Qaeda — sitting with Mehsud’s successor, Hakimullah, in an undisclosed location. It essentially confirmed the Pakistani Taleban’s claim of responsibility for one of the worst attacks in CIA history, though a senior militant told The Associated Press that Al-Qaeda and Afghan insurgents played roles, too.
The development may lead the US to further push Pakistan to crack down on Afghan and Pakistani Taleban militants who use its tribal regions along the Afghan border as safe havens. It also could prompt even more US missile strikes in the country — already on the upswing — something a Pakistani intelligence official urged the Americans to avoid. Speaking in Arabic in the video shown on the Al Jazeera network, Al-Balawi noted the Pakistani Taleban had given shelter to “emigrants” — Muslim fighters from abroad. “We will never forget the blood of our emir Baitullah Mehsud,” said Al-Balawi, who wore an Afghan hat and a camouflage jacket on a 1 1/2 minute video clip. “We will always demand revenge for him inside America and outside.”
A similar clip appeared on the Pakistani channel Aaj, though in it Al-Balawi read haltingly from a piece of paper in English.
In the Arabic clip, Al-Balawi appeared to mock assertions that US or Jordanian intelligence had employed him. In the English version, he said he had given up millions of dollars offered by the agencies to join the militants.
Al-Balawi ended by saying the Pakistani Taleban under the leadership of the new chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, would fight till victory.
In Jordan, Al-Balawi’s father confirmed the man on the clip was his son. “He was very opposed to what was happening in Iraq, the occupation of Palestine and the killings of Muslims in Afghanistan,” a downbeat Khalil Abu Mulal Al-Balawi said.
